Spring Festival reveals new shirts and new winners

Spring Festival reveals new shirts and new winners

Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 8:49 pm

by Probably Shirts

After some off-field drama surrounding the preparation for this Festival, most notably the withdrawal of two guest teams in the final days leading up to it, we were blessed on 20th May with a glorious day and some scintillating walking football from some enthusiastic teams. To address the drop-out problem (we’ve already used the “more drop outs than a crack house reunion” line earlier this season, so we won’t mention that again) we recruited a second Many Shades side - The Many Shades of Volunteers - and a mixed side “the All Stars”, from all of the guest teams as well as a fewMany Shades players. The original squad were resplendent in their brand new white Hawks shirts.The day opened with the Many Shades of White romping to a 5-0 victory over Bognor Regis Boulders, but controversy reigned as James McIlwaine claimed four of them, Bobby De Ste Croix one of them, and Jeff Pickering the other. Which makes six. We decided James must have got three. Meanwhile the Volunteers were losing 2-1 to a lively Gosport CS, with Rich Bishop scoring their goal.In the next round of matches, the Volunteers beat the All Stars 2-1, with goals from Ian Warren and another from Rich BIshop, and the consolation coming from Pete Dolamore. Meanwhile the Whites were holding Gosport 0-0, and expensive game as they lost goal threat James with a deep muscle injury.The third round of matches saw the Volunteers up against the Whites, and in a tense and close match a Rich Bishop goal settled it. Rich also struck the post from a penalty, awarded for a trip on Ian; CJ claims he saved it, but he never got near it. Meanwhile Pete Dolamore was scoring twice more as the All Stars beat Bognor 3-1.In what turned out to be his fiftieth appearance for the Many Shades, the Volunteers’ Martyn Bishop finally got on the scoresheet against the doughty Bognor Boulders, enough to earn a 1-0 win. At the same time a Jeff Pickering hat-trick for the Whites was seeing off Mountbatten by a 3-1 scoreline.The final round of matches saw the Whites being held to a 0-0 draw by the improving All Stars. On the next pitch the Volunteers slipped to a 2-0 half-time deficit against Mountbatten, courtesy of being caught upfield for one and a superb turn and finish for the other. However a stunning second-half comeback saw them turn it completely around and win 3-2 thanks to a Rich Bishop hat-trick.Back to the Westleigh for another of Suzette and Natalie’s "probably the best buffet in the world", and the presentation of the prestigious trophy. The final league table read: Gosport CS 13pts; Many Shades of Volunteers 12pts; Many Shades of White 8pts; Mountbatten WFT 4pts; All Stars 4pts; Bognor Regis Boulders 1pt.Squads were: Many Shades of White: Colin Jeffery (g), Barry Ingram, Barry Tindall, Paul Sealey, Jeff Pickering, James McIlwaine, Bobby De Ste Croix, and Matt Bartolo. For the Many Shades of Volunteers: Keith McNeil (g), Ian Warren, Barry Carter, Mick Sidwell, Stew Russell, Rich Bishop, and Martyn Bishop. Thanks to Pete Dolamore, John Morgan and George Peters who joined up with the All Stars.Thanks must go to Graham Wilson, Darren Welch and Lee Roberts who all refereed very well, and to Barrie Gray who acted as our central timekeeper.